Clothes for Kids

The Seabrook Rotary Club underwrites a major local event we call Clothes for Kids. Each year we take as many as 70 youngsters from very low-income families to the Clear Lake Shores Super Target for a one-hour shopping spree to purchase what for most are the only new clothes they will receive all year.

 

The kids are identified and selected by the staffs at J.F. Bay and Stewart Elementary Schools in Seabrook and Kemah, respectively. Parents are not invited; rather the kids are paired with adult volunteers. Rotary raises enough money each year to purchase on average $230+ in clothing per child.

 

Since Hurricane Ike in 2008 both campuses have been recognized as a Title I Schools, meaning that 40% or more of their student body is below poverty income levels. We have had children with no permanent home and some with only the clothing on their backs. Suffice it to say that the smiles on their faces are reward enough for us, but it deserves noting that to the extent these kids feel good about themselves and are not otherwise ostracized by their appearance and circumstance, they perform well in school.

 

It is also worth noting that J.F. Bay, notwithstanding its Title I status, was recognized in 2014 as a National Blue Ribbon School, one of only 250 in the United States. Not to diminish the truly extraordinary efforts of a totally dedicated faculty, we’d like to think that Seabrook Rotary played a small part in that accomplishment.

 

It’s what we do!